Garden Design II

What makes a home garden beautiful is unique to each observer. Some will like quiet hues that soothe or calm the spirit, while others prefer colorful exuberance that excite the senses. While some may wish the garden to change its appearance throughout the growing season, others may wish an unvarying rendering of the design intent. Garden designs, like other forms of artistic expression are unique reflections of personal taste, intent, and desires.

Gardens differ from other art forms in that their designers must consider that gardens are in a constant state of change. They reveal themselves over time. Soil and environment interact with plants constantly. Much in the same way that an artist must understand their medium, so too, must the garden designer understand the medium of gardening: soil, environment, and plants. In this study, you will gain insight into how these elements integrate with each other so that your garden will continue to reflect the beauty, unique quirkiness, or excitement you design into it.

Over the next two weeks you will learn through the process of site assessment, that the foundation of a beautiful garden begins with the consideration of soil and environment. Together, we will begin to assess your existing conditions so that you may gain a fundamental awareness of the influence that soil and environment have on your plants.

Taking on the rhythm of noticing and attending to all these considerations will be an important basis to form continued thoughts about garden design.

→Main Text Relevant reading: 

• Assessing Your Space (pp 132-141)
• Creating a Plan: review pp 180-183 (bookmark and refer to this later). 
• Creating a Site Plan, read page 183-189

→Note: click on the grey button on the bottom left to go to the Overview of Exercises this week.